Diana Marie Clawson, Woodbridge, Va., received the 2010 Distinguished Young Alumni Award from Minnesota State University, Mankato last week.
Clawson, an officer with the U.S. Secret Service, is one of 12 alumni who are 2010 award winners. She was honored at an April 23 dinner and ceremony hosted by the Minnesota State Mankato Alumni Association.
The Distinguished Young Alumni Award goes to graduates 35 years old or younger who have reached professional achievements early in their careers, and have positively impacted their communities.
When Clawson was 13, she and her family took a trip to Washington, D.C. She couldn’t help but notice sharply dressed men and women on the rooftops, and she knew what she wanted to be. She says the phone call explaining she had been accepted into the Secret Service training program was one of the happiest moments of her life.
After graduating from Minnesota State Mankato in 2005 with degrees in Spanish and law enforcement, she applied for the Secret Service. After two-years of interviews and testing, she joined the elite organization.
Clawson was assigned to embassy detail, then, in 2008, served as a protective agent for each of the presidential and vice-presidential nominees. After the election Clawson accompanied President Obama to Hawaii, Mexico, Minneapolis and other locations as part of his security detail. Last July she was assigned to the White House control room as one of four officers who monitor people entering and leaving the White House.
Clawson credits her success to what she learned at Minnesota State Mankato. “All of my law enforcement professors taught me a great deal that I carry with me,” she said.
Those who want more information about the Minnesota State Mankato Distinguished Alumni Awards may go to www.mnsu.edu/alumni/daa/.
Minnesota State Mankato, a comprehensive, doctoral university with 14,950 students, is part of the Minnesota State Colleges & Universities system, which comprises 32 institutions across the state.
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